In the eyes of Jaguars owner Shad Khan, Jacksonville’s dramatic fall from grace — from winning the AFC South and one of the most thrilling playoff games in NFL history two years ago to 5-18 in their last 23 contests — is the fault of the team’s coaching.
Explaining his decision to fire Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson to reporters on Monday, Khan expressed his belief in the team’s need for new leadership and schematics, and in the same breath, his faith that its front office is functional.
At the forefront of that roster-building ensemble is general manager Trent Baalke, whom Khan retained Monday to help hire a third head coach since Baalke inherited his position in Jan. 2021.
The Jaguars have gone 25-43 since then.
“We have a lot of things that are working, that can always be improved and will improve, and there are other things that are not working that need to be fixed,” Khan said.
“So, the coaching, that is an area that we need to fix now. But certainly, over the last few years, we built a football administration and a lot of things are working well there.”
Khan is no stranger to projecting assurance in his operation. It backfired last time.
He famously called the 2024 Jaguars “the best team assembled” in franchise history while addressing the squad during the preseason, a remark that was broadcast to fans in a documentary. Pederson distanced himself from Khan’s comments in Week 12 after Jacksonville had fallen to 2-9 on the season.
Khan exuded utmost confidence in Jacksonville’s players and coaches in that summer meeting, establishing an expectation for the Jaguars to “prove” his theory correct “by winning now.”
The Jaguars opened the campaign with their sixth 0-4 start in franchise history, and later rode a five-game losing streak into elimination from postseason contention in Week 13. Jacksonville finished the season 4-13.
Blamed for their “predictable” offensive and defensive schemes, the same coaches Khan considered the best in Jaguars’ history were shown the door 130 days after his speech was aired.
But not Baalke.
Khan defended Baalke’s résumé while asserting Jacksonville’s roster management was a “collaborative effort” between the personnel department and coaching staff on Monday, ultimately muddying the waters of responsibility.
“I think if you look at the body of work, certainly over the last five years. You look at the building blocks of players we have that we’re building the team around, you look at your salary cap, you look at the number of draft picks we have now and also making sure that our key players are getting paid. All of that has happened and we haven’t mortgaged a future so to speak,” Khan explained, with Baalke pinned beside him on a Zoom call.
“Some of the decision-making, do we pay our players or let them walk and then replace them with the draft and improve the players? That’s happened in the last two drafts. Number one receiver and right tackle would be something that comes to mind right away. So, I mean we can get into the granular things but overall, I think it’s pretty good.”
To Baalke’s credit, yes, he selected a No. 1 wide receiver in Brian Thomas Jr. to replace the free agency loss of Calvin Ridley to the Tennessee Titans. He picked Anton Harrison to fill Jawaan Taylor’s spot at right tackle after the latter jumped at big money from the Kansas City Chiefs.
He handed out three of the largest contract extensions in team history last offseason, to quarterback Trevor Lawrence, edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen and cornerback Tyson Campbell.
He signed five expected starters in free agency last year, and made 21 picks over the last two NFL drafts.
Yet, his efforts culminated in the Jaguars’ sixth-lowest season-long winning percentage since the club’s inception 30 years prior.
The 2024 free agent class flopped, with its prize, defensive lineman Arik Armstead, relegated to a rotational role at a position he all but admitted Monday was a mistake for him to play. Wide receiver Gabe Davis underwhelmed when he was available and missed about half the season due to a knee injury. Cornerback Ronald Darby was benched after 12 games.
To pair, only nine of Baalke’s 38 total draft picks with the Jaguars started in Week 1.
It was not the first time a Baalke-managed team found itself near the bottom of that list. The 2021 Jaguars, Baalke’s first season as general manager, in a pairing with Urban Meyer as head coach, own the third-worst winning percentage in franchise history.
However, Khan insinuated a “franchise overhaul” — in a literal sense rather than a reporter’s implied dismissal of a general manager and head coach together — would be “almost, like, suicidal.”
Khan believes Baalke has positioned the Jaguars to quickly turn things around in how he has constructed the roster. And Khan has no desire to turn over Jacksonville’s supporting staff: he complimented the health and wellness, medical, statistics, analysis and scouting teams for their growth during Baalke’s tenure to rebuff the idea of an overhaul Monday.
But it is worth remembering Meyer was the driving force behind the Jaguars building a standalone training facility attached to their practice fields upon his arrival as the team’s head coach. He also revamped the team’s player health and performance staff and created roles in the football administration.
Meyer was justifiably canned after multiple controversies in his lone year on the job. Pederson’s dismissal long appeared destined as he struggled to provide solutions to halt, or answers to explain, the Jaguars’ downfall this season.
If the efforts of these coaches were truly collaborative with their general manager, though, why has Baalke yet to be held responsible for the results?
“This decision doesn’t erase the fact that Doug did a lot of good things here in Jacksonville,” Khan stated. “I have a lot of respect for Doug and will always be grateful for his effort.
“Now, we’re in a moment of opportunity for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I am energized by what is possible with all we have to offer our new head coach and look forward to a process that’s already begun.”
The Jaguars announced Tuesday their requests to interview eight head coaching candidates: Detroit offensive and defensive coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen, Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Philadelphia offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Baltimore offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Las Vegas defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh.
If it takes the Jaguars 35 days after conducting their first interview to hire a new head coach, like last time, it will be fair to wonder if the candidates shared Khan’s excitement about what is possible in Jacksonville.
